Saturday, August 4, 2012

Strong support expected for hospital public meeting

* The official notice for the
public meeting.

Llanblogger exclusive

Organisers of next week’s pubic meeting over the controversial plan to
close Llangollen Cottage Hospital say they anticipate stronger feeling about
this issue than the scheme to build a Sainsbury’s supermarket off Berwyn
Street.

The newly-formed Llangollen Protest group has arranged for the meeting
to be held in the Denbigh Suite at the Hand Hotel in the town next Thursday
(August 9), starting at 7pm.

Their aim is to gather support for a local referendum in which residents
can vote on the closure proposal, which was aired recently in a report from the
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

Lined up as guest speaker is the Welsh Assembly’s Shadow Minister for
Housing and Communities, Mark Isherwood, and Shadow Health Minister Darren
Millar is said to have asked to be kept informed of what happens on the night.

The organisers, who secured the signatures of six local residents to
ensure they could hold the meeting, say they have so far collected 300 petition
signatures opposing the hospital closure with around 200 more in online
petitions.

They are also hoping to have proceedings interpreted into Welsh as the
meeting progresses.

In a statement issued today, Llangollen Protest says: “We anticipate
stronger feelings about this than the supermarket.

“The people we’ve spoken to are young mums who see the hospital as vital
for their small kids because they have no transport to the Wrexham Maelor, thirty-somethings
with elderly parents, and the elderly themselves.

“We’d like to point out that we have well over 300 petition signatures
opposing the hospital closure already, and around 200 in online petitions too.

“By September, when Betsi Cadwalader brings their consultation meeting
to Llangollen, we hope to have the referendum results as well as the petitions
as well as a strong, determined audience to put before them.

“Our strategy will be for the people of Llangollen to be part of the
design of a solution, not to have one simply foisted upon us.”